Receptor signaling as a regulatory mechanism of DNA repair.

Radiotherapy plays a crucial role in the treatment of many malignancies; however, locoregional disease progression remains a critical problem. This has stimulated laboratory research into understanding the basis for tumor cell resistance to radiation and the development of strategies for overcoming such resistance. We know that some cell signaling pathways that respond to normal growth factors are abnormally activated in human cancer and that these pathways also invoke cell survival mechanisms that lead to resistance to radiation.